Rice-filled felt creatures

I recently decided that I'm going to give things I made as gifts to family and friends, instead of giving them store-bought stuff. There are three types of gifts I'm planning to make: food (honey from my bees, dried figs, and pickles), whittled wood items (spoons and other utensils), and felt creatures.

The green 3-eyed monster on the left is from a class I took a couple of years ago with my daughter. I really enjoyed making it, and it only took about 40 minutes to complete. I made the blue squid on Saturday, using felt purchased from Michaels (29 cents a sheet) and embroidery floss pilfered from one of Jenny Hart's Sublime Stitching kits. Again, I spent about 40 minutes making it. I chatted with my family as I cut and stitched it together, filling it with uncooked (duh) rice. My daughters joined in on the fun, making their own creations. It was a pleasant way to spend time together.

29 Responses to “Rice-filled felt creatures”

Mark, let me say that you are a pretty neat dad! And not too shabby a stitcher. Very cool creatures and what a wonderful way to spend time with your kids! Trust me, they’ll remember it when they’re in their 30’s.

my girlfriend has a little fabric pillow filled with rice, and she puts it in the microwave for a couple of minutes and uses it as a hand/foot warmer. i don’t know how different fabrics would fare in the microwave, but it’s another nice idea for folks who live where it gets cold.

what’s the ideal filling?: rice? bran? wheat? buckwheat? I’ve seen various for toys and microwavable neck pillows etc., but what is the very best stuffing? (apart from the shriveled husks of the damned souls you’ve sucked dry and cast aside in your daily terrible purpose?)

If you’re gonna get all crafty with the buckwheat hulls, you might as well throw in a little lavender or rosemary or hops even.

The hops would be a nice touch in a stuffed animal that was a bedtime companion, as the herb is traditionally used in pillows and is supposed to make you feel sleepy.

Wow, after such a Martha Stewart moment, I feel the need to go play a video game or something, and kill a monster or crash a car. Maybe I’ll go play Kingdom of Loathing and beat up a hobo until this domestic feeling passes.

Regarding moths and weevils — yes, I’m sure you are right. If you click on the photo and look at the full-sized photo, you can see holes in the green creature. Some kind of bug chewed holes through it to get to the lentils inside. What else can I fill it with? Sand? Sawdust? rice mixed with some kind of herb that repels bugs?